Bamboo Shoot

Superfood for Nutrition, Health and Medicine

Nirmala Chongtham, Madho Bisht

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000202175
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Nutrición, dietética y bariatría

Bamboo is an ordinary plant with extraordinary properties. With its high growth rate and self-renewing ability, bamboo's sustainability is unparalleled. Bamboo is an important resource for a healthy planet, and its shoots hold manifold nutritional benefits. Based on 18 years of research, Bamboo Shoot: Superfood for Nutrition, Health and Medicine details health-promoting bioactive compounds found in bamboo and offers practical guidance on how this vegetable, bamboo shoot, is used for food fortification. Already a delicacy in many Asian countries, bamboo shoots aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Exploring the tradition and culture of bamboo in Asian countries, this book also provides information on the science behind the nutritional value of bamboo shoots.

Written by individuals with expertise in bamboo shoot nutrition and fully illustrated in colour, this book reveals the antioxidant activity of bamboo shoots and discusses the potential for bamboo to be used as an ingredient in functional foods and nutraceuticals. This highly practical book discusses processing and packaging of shoots for long term storage and using bamboo in the development of novel food products.

Features:

• Elucidates the nutrients and phytochemicals in over 30 bamboo species and includes a glossary of scientific names
• Highlights the nutraceutical and antioxidant properties of bamboo
• Describes novel healthy food products fortified with bamboo shoots and provides food recipes using bamboo
• Explains how bamboo can help countries achieve their sustainable development goals, from poverty reduction, food security, improved nutrition and prevention of diseases to climate change mitigation and inclusive green economic development

Aimed at professionals in the nutrition and food processing industry, this book appeals to those with an interest in incorporating bamboo into a healthier lifestyle.

Endorsements

This is a unique book interestingly crafted to highlight the important nutritional, health and medicinal aspects of Bamboo, an area that is greatly underexplored. It will bring awareness that bamboo shoots are a low calorie, high fibre nutritious vegetable packed with vitamins and minerals.

- Prof. Cherla Sastry, Founding Director General INBAR and Adjunct Professor, University of Toronto, Canada

This book brings a series of answers to all questions related to bamboo as a superfood [and will] enlighten readers how to transform bamboo shoots using either traditional or modern techniques, how to package them and how to use them as a functional and nutraceutical food. It also provides a series of cooking recipes for healthy eating while we enjoy our food.

- Ximena Londoño, Founder, A Bamboo and Guadua Paradise, Colombia

1 Introduction

Bestow upon us a hundred bamboo clumps.

Rig Veda

This chapter opens with a beautiful quote which is the first direct reference to bamboo in Indian literature in Rig Veda, a sacred religious book written in Sanskrit around 1500 bce and considered to be the oldest compilation of human wisdom (Sastry 2008). Bamboo, referred to as the ‘poor man’s timber’ is projected to become the ‘wood and food’ of the 21st century. Bamboo is known as ‘the plant with a thousand faces’ and has played a significant role in human society since ancient times. Today, it contributes to the subsistence needs of over 1 billion people worldwide. Over the centuries, bamboo has fulfilled all human needs, particularly in the East and Southeast Asian region. The plant is intertwined deeply with the daily life of rural populations, as it is an indispensable part of their cultural, traditional, social and economic requirements. Bamboo is a natural renewable resource which can help countries to reach their sustainable development goals; 6 of the 17 sustainable development goals are relevant to bamboo, as they contribute to poverty reduction; food security and improved nutrition; energy; housing and urban development; sustainable production and consumption; climate change; and land degradation. They all contribute to a seventh goal—stronger implementation and partnerships. Most important of all, bamboo can make a positive contribution to women’s empowerment, economic growth and technology (Figures 1.1 and 1.2).

FIGURE 1.1 Women earn a livelihood from bamboo products in Manipur, India.

FIGURE 1.2 Bamboo products in the women market or Ima Keithel of Imphal, Manipur, India.

Around the world, it is estimated that over 1 billion people live in homes made from bamboo. Bamboo remains the single most important organic building material in Asia, accounting for over 70% of rural housing (INBAR 2007). There are more than 1,500 recorded uses of bamboo, providing jobs to more than 2 billion people worldwide. Due to its various uses and applications in many parts of the world, bamboo is referred to as the ‘cradle to coffin plant’, ‘mankind’s best friend’, ‘miracle grass’ and ‘green gold’. Buddhists call it the ‘blessing of the heavens’ (Crouzet 1998). Bamboo has been used for many different purposes, for example, to make a surgical blade, to create shelter, food and medicine, and for bamboo biers and coffins. Even renowned scientists used bamboo in their inventions: Thomas Edison used carbonized bamboo as a filament for his glass lightbulb, and Alexander Graham Bell used a bamboo needle for his first phonograph. Bamboo is a very hardy and adaptive plant and is known for its resilience: in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after the devastation caused by the atomic bombs, bamboo was the first plant which sprouted (Kynes 2006). Today, bamboo is recognized as an important asset in eradication of poverty and in economic and environmental development, and it remains extremely important as a basic crop and material for rural people living in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In some countries, the processing of bamboo has shifted from low-end crafts and utensils to high-end, value-added commodities such as laminated panels, boards, pulp, paper, mats, prefabricated houses, cloth, cosmetics, medicine, fuel and value-added products from bamboo shoots. With its high growth rate, a wide range of applications and the ability to renew easily, bamboo resources are extremely important in the 21st century. In addition to contributing to local economies and the environment, global bamboo industries have rapidly developed in recent years and contributed more than USD 60 billion annually, proving that bamboo forests have the potential to contribute to inclusive and green economic development at both regional and global levels (INBAR 2019).

1.1 Bamboo for a Healthy Planet

Bamboo is a plant with tremendous versatility. Its application not only acts as a wood substitute in a variety of applications but also as an erosion control, soil remediation and climate change mitigation agent. Climate change is considered to be one of the greatest threats facing humanity. The rapid increase in atmospheric CO₂ and global surface temperature since the advent of the Industrial Revolution has motivated many scientists to investigate methods that can securely contain or lessen atmospheric CO₂. Increasing the level of carbon sequestration is one of the important viable options for reducing the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thus mitigating future dangerous climate change related scenarios. The ability of bamboo to provide global environmental services through carbon sequestration is now receiving high levels of interest. Based upon its fast growth rate, high carbon sequestration capability and high annual regrowth after harvesting, bamboo outperforms fast-growing trees in its rate of carbon accumulation and, consequently, climate mitigation has long been an important part of its green credentials (Yiping et al. 2010). According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the fastest-growing plant on earth is bamboo; it grows up to 91 cm (35”) per day, which is almost 4 cm (1.5”) an hour. The capacity of bamboo for carbon sequestration and oxygen release is 35% higher than those of trees (Zhaohua and Wei 2018). The best part is that the captured carbon by bamboo is not released immediately to the environment and can be used in various ways. Bamboo forests have a high carbon stock potential, especially when the harvested culms are used as durable products. Various studies suggest that bamboo forest ecosystems can be leveraged to help mitigate climate change, whilst simultaneously providing other important services for human adaptation and development. Bamboo forests are potent eco-guardians as they recycle a huge amount of CO₂ (about 14 tons/ha/annum) and minimize pollution by reducing up to 35% carbon dioxide and delivering more oxygen to the environment. Moreover, bamboo consumes high amounts of nitrogen which helps to decrease water pollution. The root and the extensive underground rhizome system, which is mostly concentrated in the upper 30 cm of the soil, enhances its holding capacity, thereby proving very effective in preventing soil erosion. It grows well on steep hillsides, road embankments, on the banks of ponds and streams and can thus prevent land sliding and also is effective in flood control. Bamboo creates a huge biomass and enhances the moisture retention of forests because of its dense leaf litter. The extent of available fertile lands is under increasing pressure from varied causes, including overuse of fertilizers and pesticides, salinization, acidification or alkalization and nutrition depletion. In mountainous areas of Japan, bamboo forests have been reported to play an active role in preventing soil acidification. Bamboo forests have great potential in reclaiming degraded land because of its ability to grow on most soil types. Bamboo can grow even on the marginalized land unsuitable for most crops or in combination with other crops in forestry and agroforestry. Because of its rapid growth and biomass-generating abilities, it can rehabilitate degraded lands at a faster rate and can thus play a key role in achieving recently adopted global restoration targets which include the Bonn Challenge that aims to restore 150 million ha of degraded and deforested land by 2020 and the New York Declaration on Forests to restore 350 million ha by 2030. In recent decades, a rapid increase of metal in agricultural soil due to urbanization and industrialization causes threats to human health when they enter the food chain. Bamboo can also counter the problem of heavy metal contamination as it has a tremendous ability to rapidly accumulate heavy metals from soil and water which can be utilized in purification of contaminated soil and water bodies.

Bamboo is a highly renewable grass that matures in four to five years, whereas a hardwood tree takes almost 60 years to mature. If bamboo is used more often as a building material, it will help save hardwood trees. Moreover, compared to hardwood trees, bamboo can produce 20 times more usable material in a single harvest. Thus, it plays an important role in reducing pressure on forestry resources. The successful use of bamboo in different product lines, ranging from furniture and flooring to paper and packaging demonstrates the high potential for bamboo as a more sustainable alternative material in the production of many products.

1.2 Origin of Bamboo

The word bamboo has its origins in the ancient Indian name for bamboo, ‘Mambu’’. The earliest mention of the word from which the present word, ‘Bamboo’ has been derived is in The Canon of Medicine, an encyclopedia of medicine compiled by the Persian physician-philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and published in five volumes in the 11th century. In this book, the author refers to a medicine called Tabaxir, which in Arabic means milk, juice or a liquid in condensed form. Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese physician, herbalist and naturalist working in Goa, India, described many plants from India in his book, Coloquis dos Simples Drogas da India in 1563 and mentioned Tabaxir. According to Garcia da Orta, local people at that time called this medicine ‘Saccar Mambu’ (Saccar in Portuguese is sugar and ‘Mambu’ in the Goan language is the cane or branch of a tree). Gaspard (Caspar) Bauhin, a Swiss botanist, in his book Phytopinax, which was published in 1596, used the name Arundo for a woody or tree-like reed from India. Later this tree-like reed was found to be a bamboo and was renamed Arundo arbor. Bauhin mentioned that the substance derived from Arundo was called Tabaxir by Avicenna and the plant-producing Tabaxir was called ‘Mambu’ by Indians. Mambu became Bambusa, the basis of the genus Bambusa of Linnaeus (1753) and bamboo in English. This Tabaxir (Tabasheer) of Avicenna is the same as Banslochan used by Chyawan Rishi (around 10,000 years ago), an important ingredient in the age-old health tonic Chyawanprash. ‘Banslochan’ is made up of two words, ‘Bans’ and lochan. ‘Bans’ means bamboo and is used to make Bansuri or a flute, one of the oldest musical instruments, played by Lord Shri Krishna, the Hindu God. All of these clearly indicate that the words ‘Mambu’ and ‘Bans’ are used for naming the same plant that produces a milky substance or juice called Tabasheer or Banslochan. According to Clark (1997), woody bamboos evolved in the lowland tropics of Gondwanaland during the tertiary period and bamboos dispersed to Asia from India. Srivastava et al. (2019) reported fossil leaves and culms from the late Miocene-Pliocene sediments of Arunachal Pradesh and late Oligocene sediments of Assam in north-east India. The fossil culms are named Bambusiculmus tirapensis and Bambusiculmus makumensis from the late Oligocene (about 25 million years old) sediments in Arunachal Pradesh and leaves Bambusium deomarense and Bambusium arunachalense from the late Miocene to Pliocene sediments. Previously, the Yunnan province in China recorded the oldest fossil, but these are less than 20 million years old, clearly indicating that Asian bamboo originated in India and migrated to China. The culm fossils reported from India represent the earliest records of bamboos from Asia, thereby indicating that bamboos probably dispersed to Asia from India after the establishment of land connections between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The fossil records of bamboos also indicate that ancient bamboos diversified in warm and humid monsoonal climates in Asia.

1.3 Bamboo in the Tradition and Culture of Asian Countries

Bamboo has been culturally and economically important in many Asian countries. According to an ancient Asian saying, ‘A man is born in a bamboo cradle and goes away in a bamboo coffin, everything in between is possible with bamboo’. McClure (1966) wrote that ‘...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Endorsement
• Preface
• Authors
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Bamboo as Food and Medicine
• Chapter 3 Nutrients in Bamboo Shoots
• Chapter 4 Bioactive Compounds in Bamboo Shoots
• Chapter 5 Anti-Nutrients in Bamboo Shoots
• Chapter 6 Processing of Bamboo Shoots
• Chapter 7 Packaging and Shelf-Life Evaluation of Shoots
• Chapter 8 Bamboo Shoots as Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals
• Epilogue
• Glossary of Scientific Names
• References
• Index